POLL: Most Americans Aren’t Getting Enough Information About Obamacare From Sources They Trust

With just over a month to go before the open enrollment in Obamacare’s new insurance marketplaces begins, Americans are starting to seek out more information about health reform — but they don’t tend to get that information from sources they actually trust, according to the results from a new Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

Starting in October, uninsured Americans will be able to sign up to purchase insurance plans through the marketplaces, and many of them will qualify for federal subsidies to help them afford it. As the deadline draws near, more Americans report that they’re starting to learn about their new insurance options. According to Kaiser, 33 percent of the public now say they’ve heard “a lot” or “some” information about the state-level marketplaces, up from just 22 percent in June.

But they don’t necessarily trust the sources of that information. For instance, 81 percent of Americans say they’ve heard “something” about Obamacare from newspapers, cable TV, online news, or radio over the past month. They’re likely skeptical about what they’ve heard, since just eight percent of the study’s participants say they put “a lot” of trust in the news media. A similar pattern emerges with social media. Nearly a quarter of Americans have heard about health reform on Facebook and Twitter sometime over the past month, but just three percent think they can trust those sources.

Even though Americans say they’re most likely to trust information about Obamacare from their own doctors and nurses, they don’t tend to be hearing about the law from those places. A poll conducted last month found that half of Americans haven’t heard a single thing about Obamacare from their doctors.